ok, my vcu is fine, so whats its beef ???

warehouse13 said:

i might be stating the obvious here..the photos show your vcu to floor mountings are way off centre. the elongated bolt holes are full on to one side. on mine they are bang in the middle front and rear.
might be worth trying to slide em central and try then?

Click to expand...

agree you can see the mark where the bolt originaly was

i see...ill take a look tomorrow when i get home from work...

if the 10mm bolts are sat off centre (over to one side of the elongated slots) but theyre square and bothe bearings are set like this, would it matter ?

also, if the bearings are sat tight on the vcu and i want to move both bearings back to their central location on the enongated slots, will the prop move to acconadate ? or would the bearings be better actualy moved on the vcu....

ill take a look and report back...
thanks for looking guys..

Could always ignore it, Turn up music?
Contact Swan Vesta or BlueBells for a permanent fix :doh:

The VCU bearings are not only a tight fit on the shaft but are also held in place by the propshaft yoke, horseshoe plate and bolt so will not move on the VCU. The centre bearing brackets should be at 90 degrees to the VCU, this prevents too much load on the bearings.

The front prop has a sliding joint. Rear prop doesn't. So connect the rear diff and ird prop connections, whilst the vcu bolts are fitted finger tight, then tighten prop to rear diff bolt, then tighten the vcu bolts, then tighten the prop to ird bolts. That way you ensure it's not pulling on the rear diff flange.

Myzeneye, I have been watching this thread closely, I have exactly the same noise. Let me tell you a story of how mine came about, it might help you.
I had a different noise/rumble develop so I put the car into a local well trusted indy. They renewed the prop shaft bearing & on getting the car back it had this new noise as you described.
The original noise/rumble was also still there which I cured by matching the tyres (I had just had 2 new tyres fitted from Michelins to Pirellis, read about making that mistake on this forum & replaced the other 2....original problem solved!!:doh
I returned the car to the garage but they could not diagnose the problem. I even took it to a 4x4 specialist who said "don't know what it is, it's a Freelander they make noises!!"
So I'll be very interested on how you get on as it looks as if I'll be underneath mine tomorrow to make sure it's aligned properly.

went to my local indipendant lr garage again today. (without car,just to chat)
told him i suspected vcu bearings and asked weather they pressed and pulled bearings or just used hammers etc.... they said they used hammers. they said they didnt want the job because they could easily damage the prop removing the u/j's and bearings etc.... i kinda laughed at him....he openly admitted he just didnt want the job. "**** design mate...youl chase that noise round all day...blah blah"
i realised at this point that this garage propbably just serviced l.r's....and didnt wanna get involved.

i came home... feeling like i was on my own with it....
i rang landrover. they were very helpfull. told them my whoefull tale.... they said, bring it down we'l listen/test drive it for free,no probs. they said they agreed, it was likey it was the vcu bearings allthough hammering them on was normal as aposed to pressing them on...

i would attempt this job myself, but i have no pullers etc to get the bearings off.....
im prepared to do this work all in the hope of getting a result cos its driving me mental. no one wants to touch it either which is equally anoying...:doh:
the bearings were renewed with the vcu not long ago, but they are prime suspect at the mo.....

the more ive come to think the blame is with the bearing/s i have also come to realise its just a noise...nothing disaterous...... at least i think...hahhah

Is the VCU bearing the same as the prop shaft bearing?

yes

Some VCU/Propshaft centre bearings, on the market at the moment, are of inferior manufacture and suffer from premature failure. Have a word with Bell Engineering and they will be able to offer some excellent advice.

right guys...i took the prop off again last night...running in two wheel drive again...no noise, silky soft steering etc.....

on inspection of the prop/bearings etc... the vcu bearings, one off them does look slightly askew on the vci shaft..... top to bottom i reckon its a few mill out....deffo.
gonna order some genuine lr bearings and get busy.
will be back with either more stupid questions or a result....
thanks again folks....

bet the noise goes away if you fit new bearings,as i said before just cause there new they can get damaged on fitting as most people just hammer them on and damage the seal that covers the bearings,then it dont take long for dust/grit to get in,hope new vcu/prop bearings fix it for you

Howdy Myzeneye - did you have any luck with your bearing replacement?
Mine is nastily loud now...hollow gorlwing bearing noise from underside.. Shaking the diff/ird/vcu bearing connections and no play..Had genuine LR ones fitted a few months ago and im willing to get prop off and replace again next weekend if I can find someone who has fixed there this method also!...Please feed back to us all how you got on..
unless the swan vesta insurance claim is still under investigation that is

myzeneye said:

Click to expand...

Has John Wayne fitted this for you? Shoot him!!!!!!!!:doh:

@ Hippo your Chassis ears made me giggle what ever will they come up with next?.............Exhaust pampers!!!!!!!!:5brofl:

myzeneye said:

right guys...i took the prop off again last night...running in two wheel drive again...no noise, silky soft steering etc.....

on inspection of the prop/bearings etc... the vcu bearings, one off them does look slightly askew on the vci shaft..... top to bottom i reckon its a few mill out....deffo.
gonna order some genuine lr bearings and get busy.
will be back with either more stupid questions or a result....
thanks again folks....

Click to expand...

Hi There

Did you resolve this one or did you flog the freelander???

regards

jedi said:

@Hippo your Chassis ears made me giggle what ever will they come up with next?.............Exhaust pampers!!!!!!!!:5brofl:

Click to expand...

They give you a big headache due to the whistling noise but apart from that they is a handy bit of diagnostic kit. Gone up quite a bit in price so it's lucky I still have them. I thought the main dealer was taking the p when they said LR might come out to have a look and use chassis ears. They said they didn't have any at the dealers as they're expensive. Professional versions perhaps but I did ok with the ones I got.

jumble_jobs said:

Hi There

Did you resolve this one or did you flog the freelander???

regards

Click to expand...

yep, genuine bearings fitted parallel to shaft properly sorted it

joe27979 said:

yep, genuine bearings fitted parallel to shaft properly sorted it

Click to expand...

Thanks so perhaps that's my answer too - noise like a tin of old bolts otherwise same symptoms, new VCU, bearings etc six months ago runs fine with prop off Freelander. Did you get them pressed on this time?